Everything that we have experienced thus far in Israel starts with a simple idea, a simple place, and yet everything here has an intense complexity built into it, because of the multitude of cultures, people, ethnicities, religions, food & water sources, and geopolitical interpretations...
We started our day in the Hula Valley which originally existed naturally as a marsh, and was purposefully dried up (in part using non indigenous eucalyptus trees) to make the valley fertile for agricultural production. Now the "Hula Preserve", recognized as a national park, is a newly man-made wetland area that has been created to replicate what naturally existed decades ago. The complexity of this place is that it took losing its natural habitat to realize the need to recreate it as a part of the ecosystem for the natural migration of birds from Europe to Africa - making a simple idea, a simple place, very complex.
A more drastic example of this simple complexity of Israel that illustrates some of the geopolitical, religious, and historical narratives Israel faces, is Golan Heights - an annexed region bordering Syria. Our cohort relaxed at Coffee Anan for lunch, peacefully enjoying salmon, sweet potato quiche, espresso, and a full spread of food, with beautiful views from the top of the mountain one moment...and the next moment we were looking out from the top of Mount Bental and hearing the sounds of civil unrest and bombings in Syria, with no projected resolution in sight, and Damascus just 60 kilometers away from us. This is accentuated by the presence of UN observers at the top of Mount Bental, and the visual of IDF presence in the valley between the northeast base of the mountain and the cease fire line (an imaginary line, not an actual border) between the 2 countries, established in 1974.
Another example of the simple complexity of our experience today is ending the day with a sunset cruise on the Sea of Galilee - the main water source for the entire state of Israel, stemming from rivers and the Dan spring, many of which originate from within the bordering countries of Lebanon and Syria. Water is a theme that ties together the complexity of the conflicts between Israel and other countries, as it is the simplest key to human survival, and essential to the survival of the entire infrastructure of the country in an area that is primarily desert. The potential for this essential water source being cut off by dams in neighboring countries and the continuous potential for conflict in, between, and from multiple neighboring nations contributed to the existence of the cease fire agreement with Syria.
When asked to brainstorm words at the start of this journey, the group came up with the following: "holy land", "Jewish state", "struggle", "land of milk and honey", and a variety of other words with varying connotations, depending on context. After experiencing Israel the way we did today, I might add words like "water", "central", "history", "context", "approximate borders", and a few others. It amazes me how the additional context, questions, history, and exploration have started my thoughts buzzing, and it's only the end of Day 1.
Written in partnership with Aaron Zaffron, of JCCSF.